Trust is a crucial and nonnegotiable element of the relationships brands build with consumers. Without consumer trust, relationships fall apart, communication breaks down, and sales can suffer. This is especially true with brands that offer products that support a healthy lifestyle or promise to be made with healthy ingredients.

As part of the POPSUGAR Insights 2014 Healthy Living Report, we wanted to measure the degree to which trust matters for women and understand how important it was for brands to practice what they preach. We asked women to rank various phrases on a scale ranging from “agree completely” to “disagree completely” to understand how important they felt it was for a brand to make choices to be honest and support a healthy lifestyle. Here’s what we discovered.

Trust matters. Overall, 94% of women “agree completely” or “agree somewhat” that they are more likely to buy brands that are honest in their advertising and their promises. Additionally, 85% of women trust products more when they hear about them from their friends. Trust is especially important to women between the ages of 25 and 34. One way to build upon trust is via social media, and 45% of women say they follow brands on social media that offer tips and suggestions for how to be healthier.

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Of course, words without actions are meaningless, and therefore it’s not surprising that women appreciate and support brands that put money and effort behind their words. Of the women we asked, 84% appreciate brands that sponsor healthy living activities in their local community, 80% would be more likely to purchase products if the purchase benefited a cause that women care about, and 61% would even pay more for a product if a portion of the proceeds benefited a cause. An example of a cause would be education support, and 74% of women said they are fans of brands that offer healthy living education programs.

At the end of the day, the product itself needs to meet the quality standards set forth by the advertising and marketing activities, and in general, 83% are more willing to purchase brands that offer “healthy” options and prefer buying brands that create sustainable products.